EU draft report on Turkey unacceptable: Ankara

By Yusuf Hatip and Nazli Yuzbasioglu

ANKARA/BRUSSELS

The European Parliament’s Committee for Foreign Affairs voted Wednesday to accept a draft advisory report on Turkey, with Ankara calling the document "unacceptable".

The report, which calls for suspending accession negotiations between Turkey and the European Union, is expected to be voted on by the entire European Parliament in mid-March.

"The call in the draft report -- which is not legally binding and bears only the status of an advisory decision -- to officially suspend our country’s accession negotiations with the EU is absolutely unacceptable," Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Hami Aksoy said.

He said the draft report exemplified the EU’s biased and prejudiced attitude towards Turkey, adding Ankara would continue to push for its amendment.

"We expect the necessary changes to be made for a more realistic, unbiased and encouraging final report which will be accepted in March at the European Parliament’s general assembly," said Aksoy, stressing that Ankara would only take such a document into account.

He stressed that Turkey would continue to adopt reforms for accession into the bloc and Ankara expected the European Parliament to honor its pledged obligations towards Turkey.

Turkey applied for EU membership in 1987 and accession talks began in 2005.

But negotiations stalled in 2007 due to the objections of the Greek Cypriot administration on the divided island of Cyprus as well as opposition from Germany and France.